


Missing Pieces

by torikabori



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: (more characters and tags to be added as they become relevant!), Angst and Humor, F/F, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-27
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:49:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26686180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/torikabori/pseuds/torikabori
Summary: When Blue and Yellow get hurt in a terrible accident, Spinel has to rally their closest friends and allies to put them back together.In the process, she learns just how little anyone really knows about the two Diamonds.
Relationships: Blue Diamond & Spinel & White Diamond & Yellow Diamond (Steven Universe), Blue Diamond/Yellow Diamond (Steven Universe)
Comments: 20
Kudos: 75





	1. Spinel

**Author's Note:**

> *Padparadscha voice* Happy movie anniversary, everyone!
> 
> This fic has been kicking around my head and my drafts for... a disturbing number of months, in one form or another. But I've finally figured out how to write it, so here we are! Let's hope someone else enjoys the idea as much as I do.

Spinel peeked out from behind a corner, narrowly escaping her targets’ notice. That was the benefit, she supposed, to being so much smaller; it was very easy to sneak around.

Not that Yellow and Blue seemed to have trouble with that, big as they were. The two of them had been disappearing, often at the same time, to the point where an entire day might go by without anyone seeing them. Spinel might have been able to live with that once in a while, but now they were doing it more often, and they always seemed to dodge the question when she tried to ask about it. The final straw had been last week, when she had tried to ask White— only to learn that White seemed to have no idea it was happening at all. These disappearances deliberately coincided with her meditation sessions.

So, the only sensible thing was for Spinel to investigate on her own.

In the hallway ahead, Yellow seemed to be counting some pillars while Blue observed. She found a blank space between them and paused, shoulders tense.

Blue reached forward and laid a hand on her back.

Yellow shook her head. She looked around the hallway for spies— Spinel shrank a little— and then raised her own hand to touch a blank space in the wall.

A section of it glowed, then opened silently to reveal a secret doorway. Yellow stared at the dark passage beyond, clenching her fists, while Blue shifted closer.

“We can always come back tomorrow,” Blue said softly.

Yellow shook her head again. “No. I won’t put this off any longer.” She took a breath, then stepped into the darkness, her heels echoing loudly through the Diamond-sized halls. Blue followed solemnly.

Spinel stretched her legs out into long, noiseless strides, reaching the door just in time with a strange mix of vindication and anger.

They were totally hiding something.

Through the door, she very nearly tripped when she had to stretch her legs a bit farther: they were going down a staircase. She flattened herself against the wall, just in case her shadow might be spotted. But she need not have worried: the door closed behind her, plunging them into darkness.

She saw only the faintest glow of gold up ahead; Yellow must be using her gem to light the way. Spinel did not dare do the same, instead letting the thunderous sound of the Diamonds’ footsteps be her only guide.

As she followed them down into the dark, the air growing cold and sterile around her, Spinel’s anger grew. How dare they all run off at once? Hadn’t they invited her here? Didn’t they want to spend any time with her? Was this some dirty trick to freeze her out, to make her leave on her own? Well, too bad— if they were finally tired of her, they could tell her to her face.

The spiral staircase was a long way down, and by the time the light ahead grew, Spinel was ready to hit something. She had not felt such fury since her first visit to Earth, that first time she’d realized she’d been abandoned.

The footsteps stopped, echoing as if in some sort of cavern.

“Well,” Yellow said, her voice flat and bitter, “let’s get it over with.”

There was a dreadful scraping noise, followed by a few small _thunks_ , then the familiar shuffle that was Blue’s dress on the floor. Spinel crept forward until she could peek around the corner, and nearly gave herself away with a gasp.

Massive, grotesque creations surrounded them: canons, hammers, blades of all shapes and sizes. The walls, so far apart that Spinel could not make out the most distant one, were lined with weapons of every possible type; the floors were littered with cruel-looking machines.

They were in a giant armory.

Blue was taking things off the wall mounts, scanning them with some sort of screen she carried, and putting them back. Yellow, meanwhile, was working on one of the machines. She pried open a panel on its side, glared at the contents, then reached in and began violently yanking out wires. “Primitive design,” she scoffed, when the loud snapping sound made Blue turn.

Blue gave her a small smile and went back to her scanning. Yellow took hold of one of the machine’s huge mechanical arms and twisted it off. The horrible metallic screech made Spinel’s head hurt, but Yellow didn’t even seem to be making much effort. When she dropped it, the thing put a dent in the floor.

Then she just moved onto the next machine, while Blue kept scanning.

Spinel shuddered and ducked back behind the wall, her anger momentarily replaced by fear. Sometimes she forgot just how strong the Diamonds were, and what they used to be.

Not that she ever thought they would go back to that. But why, then, were they cataloging weapons and harvesting parts out of war machines? She heard more groaning and terrible metallic twisting as Yellow continued to work. Were they preparing for something? Was that why they kept sneaking off— was there something they didn’t want Spinel to worry about? What could they possibly need all this stuff for— surely not anything on Homeworld. Maybe they were planning to go away.

Maybe this really was Pink all over again.

It was that horrible possibility that drove her forward, out of the shadows and toward the gems she once thought she knew.

Now they were both looking at the same thing— or rather, Yellow was grimly picking apart some massive contraption while Blue watched her with concern. This one seemed rather like a giant toy, like a spinning top that Spinel and Pink had once played with. The imagery only made Spinel more upset.

It was Blue who spotted her first.

“Spinel!” she gasped, panicked as if she had been caught doing something she shouldn’t. “What are you doing in here?”

“I oughtta ask you the same thing—”

“Spinel?!” Yellow’s voice echoed strangely; she had contorted so that her head and shoulders were inside the giant top. There was an awkward clanging as she tried to extract herself.

“You shouldn’t be here.” Blue didn’t seem angry, only worried. Somehow that only made Spinel madder.

“And why are _you_ here, huh?” she demanded, pointing her finger accusingly. “What is this place? You can’t just sneak off and not expect—”

“Spinel.” Yellow had never used that tone with her before. “Get out.”

“But—”

“This is not going to be an argument,” Yellow snapped. “Go back where you came from right now.”

Rage burned in her throat. The day had finally come— she had been stupid, _stupid_ to let herself think that it might not. They had grown tired of her games and they didn’t want her anymore. Diamonds were all the same.

Her chest felt tight, like it couldn’t contain her gem. She was such a moron.

“Fine,” she spat, determined not to let them see her lose form. “Fine, I’ll go.”

“Spinel,” Blue said softly, while Yellow groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose.

“What? I’m going, okay?!” She turned to run for the exit, only to trip over the extended leg of one of those awful machines. She was so pathetic, she couldn’t even leave without humiliating herself. With a wail of frustration, she kicked it as hard as she could. The machine part, already mostly broken, tilted dangerously on its hinge before it crashed to the floor, hard enough to rattle some of the shelves.

After that, it all happened very quickly.

The spinning top-looking thing Yellow had been working on began to tremble, and then its insides began to glow. It creaked into motion, beginning to turn.

“Go!” Yellow shouted, and she sounded angry now, but when Spinel would remember this moment later, she sounded afraid.

Blue scrambled towards her, and Spinel was not fast enough; the world turned stuffy and cyan as a bubble encased her.

“Let me out!” she shrieked, as Yellow attacked the thing with her power— a dreadful mistake.

The top whirled to life, sending out a bright pink shockwave that looked like a circular blade. Before Blue could send the bubble off, she stumbled to her knees, while Yellow landed on her back; their forms had been cut off at the ankles.

They only had time to turn, reaching for her and each other as the top kept moving, sparking and shrieking and spewing burgundy smoke. Before the terrible machine choked and died it released one more attack. Spinel’s bubble floated safely above it; she pressed her hands to its surface and screamed as the pink blade of light sliced the two Diamonds cleanly in half.

Their forms held for just a moment, stuck on those horrible expressions of surprise. Then they gave in, dissipating at the exact same time in an explosion powerful enough to shake the entire room, kill the lights, and pop Spinel’s bubble.

She landed hard on a broken floor, alone in absolute darkness.

* * *

The door to her own room slammed shut behind her, but Spinel could not collapse on the floor as she wanted to; instead she carefully unwound her arms from the woven shape they had held through the entire journey up here. They ached terribly— it took a lot to strain her malleable form, but this had done it.

The two massive gems landed as softly as she could manage. It was profoundly disturbing, seeing them like this— they seemed too large to be real and yet too small to be themselves.

She forced herself to look closer. Diamonds were brittle, she thought, feeling sick. That was the trade-off with harder gems— they were less easy to scratch but more easy to break. And Diamonds were hardest of all.

What if they shattered because of her?

She wound her arms tight around herself, squeezing, trying to keep herself in one piece. Her entire form was hurting, worst of all in her chest. But she couldn’t fall apart, not now. Yellow and Blue needed her. For the first time ever, Spinel was needed.

With trembling hands and watery eyes, she inspected the oversized gems, turning each of them over as gently as she could. There didn’t appear to be any physical damage. Even when she looked closely, feeling over them for any hairline cracks or blemishes, she found nothing.

A few times, she had to wipe her tears off. Why couldn’t she be the one with healing powers? Was that why they didn’t want her around anymore— they realized she didn’t belong with them?

She sniffed and sank to the floor, ashamed. She was being stupid again. Stupid and mean and unfair. After all, hadn’t they reached for her? Hadn’t Blue’s bubble protected her? Hadn’t they put her safety before their own?

Spinel gripped her pigtails, pulling on them until it hurt. Stupid, stupid, stupid. They probably had a good reason for not telling her they were going somewhere so dangerous; they had probably known she would mess it all up and they didn’t want anyone to get hurt. And they probably had good reason for sneaking around, too— no one should know about a place like that, if even a Diamond wasn’t safe there.

She pulled harder on her hair. She should know better by now. She should _be_ better. She had thought she was improving, after all this time, and yet it still happened— she had let her dumb feelings get the best of her again, jumped to conclusions and hurt people who didn't deserve it. And all she could manage to do about it was wallow in her own misery.

There was a knock at her door, making her jump. “Who is it?” she called, hoping her voice would not give away her distress, knowing she had never been able to hide her feelings even at the best of times.

“This is Zircon!” came the muffled response. “I need to speak with you at once!”

Spinel glanced at the two huge gems on her floor. “Uhh, just a sec!” She cast around wildly for something to hide them. There were windows in her rooms, with a few sets of curtains she could draw for privacy; she stretched up and tore away the opaque ones now, piling them carefully on top of the two gems.

She opened the door just wide enough to poke her head out. “What’s up, doc?” she asked, in what she hoped was a normal tone.

Luckily, Zircon seemed to be occupied with her own problems. “What do mean what is _up_?” she wailed. “That explosion just twenty-three minutes ago! The whole palace shook!”

“Oh, yeah, that was so weird!” She laughed awkwardly. “But nothing’s broken, sooo…”

“So?!” Zircon looked ready to start tearing out chunks of her own form. “Gems are terrified! The council needs an answer for them! There are very few beings who should be able to cause that, and the Diamonds are nowhere to be found!”

It was a tremendous effort not to look behind herself.

“I’ve tried both their offices and their direct lines,” Zircon went on. “No one’s seen Yellow Diamond or Blue Diamond since yesterday. But all three ships are still here, so they can’t have gone off-planet. You're the only one who sees them after hours— do you have any idea where they’ve gone?”

Spinel held on tightly to her smile. “Not a clue! Have you tried White?”

“Oh, she’s useless for this sort of thing!” As soon as she said it, Zircon flinched and clapped a hand over her mouth. “Please don’t repeat that.”

Spinel shrugged. She enjoyed White’s company immensely, but the largest Diamond was not exactly her first choice in a crisis, either. As soon as she thought it, she felt guilty all over again; what right did she have to think such a thing?

Zircon sighed, oblivious to her inner turmoil. “You really don’t know?”

“Nope, sorry! But I’m sure they’ll turn up soon. Maybe they’re already dealing with whatever that weird explosion was!” It was, after all, not a lie.

Zircon frowned at her, eyes narrowing just a little. “Perhaps you’re right,” she said slowly. “Well, when you see them again, I would very much appreciate it if you let them know I need a word.”

“Can do!” Spinel chirped. “But I’ve got my own stuff to do— bye now!”

She shut the door quickly. There was a long, painful pause, then Zircon’s footsteps gradually receded.

Spinel let out a huge breath. Crisis averted, for now.

She locked the door and hurried to the pile of curtains, checking over the gems compulsively. They were just as pristine as before.

How long could she keep this up, though? She had no idea how long it would take a Diamond to reform.

Another six thousand years, maybe?

Her eyes began to burn, her chest throbbing around her gem. She couldn’t go through that again. She couldn’t. She _couldn’t_.

But they needed her.

She slapped herself in the face with both hands. “Snap out of it,” she ordered herself. “You got work to do.”

She looked around the room. There were sheer curtains on the windows as well, to grant her privacy without blocking the light. She drew those now, then repositioned Yellow and Blue so that they could take in as much as they needed.

She stood there a moment, fidgeting.

She couldn’t leave, could she? She couldn’t leave them alone.

Slowly she sank to her knees, her still-sore arms pooling around her like loose strings. Her chest was hurting again. How long would it be?

She sat like that for some minutes, not a sound in the room but the rustle of the curtains. She was so scared and ashamed that the surface of her form prickled. She hugged herself again, curling in a bit, only to realize that it wasn’t her— the air around her was beginning to crackle and spark, as Yellow’s gem slowly rose off the cushion.

Spinel had just enough forethought to get Blue out of the way before it became nearly impossible to move. The power in the air made her whole physical form hurt, and it was all she could do to keep form as the golden light took shape, growing arms and legs, sparking as it stretched out toward its former glory— and then stopped short. It dimmed and solidified, and then Yellow came down, landing hard enough to crack the floor where Blue had been.

For a moment Spinel could only stare; Yellow’s new form was _very_ different.

The spikes on her head were gone, replaced by a floof of white-gold curls that brushed over the top of her bare, thin shoulders. Her gloves and the raised heels of her shoes were gone. Even her face had changed— her eyes seemed wider, somehow, and Spinel realized that the dark creases at the corners had disappeared.

Aside from the size and color, she looked like a completely different gem. Especially with the way she looked around the room, blinking in confusion as if she had never seen it before.

“H-hey, Yellow,” Spinel managed. “I’m—”

Yellow’s attention snapped to her, and the larger gem gasped. “Oh _wow_ ,” she exclaimed, with a disturbingly uncharacteristic grin. She lunged forward, landing with her hands on either side of Spinel, her huge face looming over her in a way that had never been so frightening before.

“You’re so _small!_ ” she giggled. “What’s your name?”

“Wha— Yellow, it’s me! It’s…” Horrible realization dawned on her, as she looked into those wide, innocent eyes. This was not the Yellow she knew.

That machine— the giant spinning monstrosity that could take down a full-size Diamond— it was a Rejuvenator.


	2. White

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A touch more levity. Blue reforms. Attempts are made at Fixing The Thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So glad others are enjoying this concept! I have most of it already planned/written in broad strokes, so we'll see if I can keep up this chapter-a-week thing. And hopefully you guys are all down for some of the... choices I've made. I wanted to do something a little different. :')

“Okay, think,” Spinel muttered, pacing back and forth and pulling hard on her hair. “Ya got one giant Kindergarten sprout, and another one on the way.” She glanced at Blue, who still showed no signs of reforming. “We gotta find all her puzzle pieces, but we can’t leave this room or everyone’s gonna freak. You really don’t remember _anything?_ ”

“Nope!” Yellow chirped. She had been watching Spinel pace with wide-eyed curiosity. “Should I? Do we know each other?”

“You could say that,” Spinel sighed. She was beginning to wonder just how much she truly did know about her two large friends. “Listen, Yellow, there’s gotta be something—”

“Is that my name? Yellow?” She looked down at herself, as if seeing her own form for the first time. “Oh! Because I’m yellow!” She laughed that loud cackle of hers, making Spinel wince.

“Shhhh!” she hissed, glancing worriedly at the door. “Keep it down!”

“Okay! I mean, okay.” Yellow’s whisper was just as loud as her speaking voice. “Why are we quiet?”

“Because I need to think!” She hit herself in frustration, pacing faster. What did she know about Yellow and Blue? They used to command armies, but now they were just healers. They still worked hard, and sometimes they snuck off for unknown reasons, but they always tried to make time for Spinel. They laughed at her jokes and silly faces. They would help any gem who asked.

Why, _why_ hadn’t she just _asked?_

Spinel hit herself harder. This was all her fault.

“What are you thinking about?” Yellow whispered loudly. Spinel turned to see her face, way too close again. Yellow moved so much faster than someone her size should be able to.

“Just the two big problems in front of me,” she sighed. “Yellow—”

She was interrupted by a familiar sound from the hallway. She shushed Yellow again, preemptively, knowing all too well what those giant footfalls meant, hoping against hope that they were not approaching her room.

Of course, she was not so lucky.

There was a light— well, not that light— knock on the door, far above Spinel’s head.

“Spinel, dear, may I have a word?”

Spinel swallowed. She really, _really_ did not want to face White right now. Not with Yellow and Blue like this, and her having no good explanation or plan. Maybe she could just pretend not to be here— White might know plenty of weird stuff, but she wasn’t omniscient, right? Spinel might have gone out. White wouldn’t know.

“Why aren’t you answering?” Yellow whisper-shouted.

Spinel smacked her forehead and groaned. Of course.

“Oh, is Yellow with you?” White asked cheerfully. “Wonderful!” And without further ado she let herself in.

There was a moment of silence as the two Diamonds beheld each other, and Spinel hid her face in her hands, waiting for her doom. Then White exclaimed, “Oh, Sunshine, you look straight from the Kindergarten!”

“She is,” Spinel lamented, while Yellow asked, “What’s a Kindergarten?”

“Pardon?”

“A Kindergarten! The little one used that word too. Do we all know each other? Is that where we’re from?”

Another moment of silence, and then a long black fingernail nudged Spinel’s hands apart, tucked under her chin and tilted her head up.

White gave her a brilliant smile. Somehow it did not seem as happy as usual.

“What happened, little one?” she asked, unsettlingly pleasant.

“It’s not my fault,” Spinel stammered, hating herself for the lie. “Yellow and Blue were creepin’ around, and there were all these huge weapons, one went off and I think it was a giant Rejuvenator because Yellow came back like this. But we can get them back!” White’s gaze drifted to the big blue gem on the floor. “It happened to me once. We just gotta find all their pieces and give ‘em a little spark!”

“I see,” White said mildly. She picked up Blue, turning the gem over in her giant claws as if checking for scratches. The silence stretched out painfully.

“Are you still trying to think?” Yellow was no longer even attempting to whisper. “I have questions!”

“Yeah, I bet you do,” Spinel sighed. “Yellow, you had an accident and lost your memories. This is White— I mean, White Diamond. She’s known you a lot longer than I have.”

“Oh! Do we all have color names?” Yellow grinned. “Are you called Pink?”

Spinel flinched as if struck; White nearly dropped Blue. Spinel stomped her foot as she turned on Yellow. “I’m Spinel, you big dummy! Did your gem get dented or something? That’s not funny!”

Later, she would wonder what had possessed her to speak to a Diamond that way. But this Yellow was not her Yellow; instead of laying down the law, she simply crossed her arms and huffed in indignation. “Well, excuse me for asking! You just said I lost my memories!”

“But you’re a _gem_ ,” Spinel pointed out. “And you’re a _Diamond_ , not some overcooked Quartz! You should at least know the basics!”

“That’s enough, you two.” White placed Blue in her lap as she addressed them. “Spinel, gemcraft as you know it was developed by the three of us. Pre-programmed specialized base knowledge was not available until— oh dear.”

Spinel felt it before she saw; her chest ached and she doubled over, feeling everything from despair to euphoria all at once. Even worse, the air began to crackle again, stinging every inch of her surface as Yellow demanded to know what was going on.

And then the light grew, and Blue reformed.

Just like Yellow, she was drastically different. Her dress, now sleeveless, hung off one shoulder and barely reached her ankles; her hair was even longer, but it covered her in messy tangled heaps rather than the perfectly round teardrop shape that was her signature. The dark circles under her eyes had disappeared completely.

“Oh, another one.” The sparks in the air fizzled out, and now it was Blue’s turn to experience Yellow invading her space and inspecting her like a fascinating new toy. “Are you like me?”

Blue stared at her, then at White. She did not seem to notice Spinel.

Yellow leaned in closer. “Hello! Did you lose your memories too? It’s rude to ignore people, you know!”

“Yellow,” White said in warning, while Blue shrank back, hugging her knees. She mumbled something incomprehensible.

Yellow’s frown looked more like a pout. “Speak up!”

“Ní thuigim,” Blue whispered. She looked like she might start to cry. “Tá brón orm…”

White sighed. “I was afraid of this. Blue is not like the rest of us,” she explained. “When she first emerged, her impurities interfered with her speech. She can’t understand you.”

“Oh.” Yellow sat back on her heels, her frown deepening. Then she poked Blue to get her attention, making the other gem flinch. “Yellow,” she declared, pointing at herself. “ _Yel-low_. White. Spinel.” She pointed at each of them in turn. At the last one, she raised an eyebrow at the smaller gem.

Spinel might have stuck her tongue out in response, if the situation were not so dire. Instead, she looked up at White. The largest Diamond had yet to look truly upset, but there was a certain tension in her smile, as if she held back something terrible only out of politeness.

White glanced down at her. “You said this happened to you?”

Spinel nodded. She remembered how it had felt— the thoughtless, instinctual affection she had been created with; the sharp bursts of anxiety when something brushed the edge of her lost memories; the sinking despair and blinding rage when it all came back.

But that was just her. The Crystal Gems had all been happy when they came back; they had laughed and hugged each other and rejoiced in being themselves. They all had a family waiting for them, just like Blue and Yellow did.

“We just have to remind them who they are,” she said now. “If we get all the pieces, they should be able to put ‘em back together.”

"Remind them, hm?" White’s gaze drifted back to the other side of the room, where Yellow was attempting to teach Blue how to talk.

“Nice to meet you,” Yellow said, slowly and deliberately.

“Nice to meet you,” Blue repeated, halting and awkward in her pronunciation.

“Good! Look, I’m fixing her!”

“Of course you are, dear,” White said indulgently. “But I have a faster way. Come along, everyone.”

Spinel got ready to jump, then stopped: where would she go? Usually when they went somewhere as a group, she would hitch a ride on Yellow’s shoulder, but there was no space there now; that giant fluff of hair covered it. If she looked closely, she could see sparks of Yellow’s power in it, which would probably ruin her form if she got too close.

And even worse, she was not sure that this freshly-hatched version of Yellow would even want her there.

Her other perch of choice, Blue’s hair loop, was also gone— and from the way Blue kept glancing nervously at the three of them, she was probably not up for ferrying anyone around either.

White did not think to offer, and Spinel did not dare ask, not now. Instead she just stood back, then hurried along behind them like she was still an unwelcome spy.

Very soon, though, she was grateful she had not asked to be carried. Only White could stand and walk with any sort of grace; Yellow marched along behind her, her footfalls somehow absurdly loud even by Diamond standards, and Blue shuffled a ways behind that, occasionally tripping over her own hair. Every time this happened, Yellow bounced the few steps back to check on her, Blue flinched away and muttered frantic gibberish as she climbed back to her feet, then Yellow trotted forward again to keep up with White. The hallway shook with every step.

Spinel almost wanted to laugh. She was reminded of the few times she and Pink had gotten their hands on little organic pets, and how they had struggled in vain to herd the things. She was honestly a little shocked that no one came to respond to the noise, even at this hour of the night— then again, given the explosion earlier, other gems might have evacuated the palace.

After the fourth ridiculous performance, White paused and turned. “Dear ones,” she said sweetly, the corners of her mouth almost twitching, “I think we need a solution.”

Blue drooped. “Tá brón orm,” she mumbled nonsensically, her hands twisting in her hair. “Ní féidir liom…”

“Oh, just let me.” Yellow swatted her hands away, then took the liberty of gathering Blue’s mass of hair up in her own arms, coiling it like a giant spool of wires. She nudged Blue forward until the skittish Diamond began shuffling towards White again.

“Is this better?” Yellow asked White, as if eager for praise.

White just sighed and turned back around. “See that she doesn’t fall behind.”

And so the rest of the way, Yellow was pestering Blue to hurry up, while Blue got increasingly flustered, White’s smile grew even more strained, and Spinel— she had to admit— was actively covering her mouth to prevent herself from laughing.

They arrived at Yellow’s work room, which was mercifully empty of visitors.

“What’s that smell?” Yellow asked.

White beckoned her forward. “This aroma comes from your garden,” she said. “Welcome to your home, Yellow.”

The door opened, and White presented the room with a dramatic sweeping arm. It really was rather impressive: a giant, impeccably neat work station; plants in a thousand different shapes and colors; a huge window with a perfect view of the night sky.

Yellow handed Blue her hair, and took a step inside. White watched her expectantly, but Spinel already had a feeling that this wouldn’t be enough.

Confirming her suspicions, Yellow asked cheerfully, “So this is the Kinder-garden I came from?”

“Of course not,” White laughed. “This is your garden of organic life, not gems. We don’t do that anymore.”

“Do what? Oh! Did I grow _people?_ ” She seemed excited about this, which Spinel took as a sign that maybe she did have some kind of Diamond instinct after all.

“Once upon a time, yes,” White said delicately. “We Diamonds were once the matriarchs of a great empire, and we conquered planets to create gems. But now we know a better way.” She directed Yellow’s attention to the desk, where there was a collection of bubbled shards. “Now we understand that it’s better to heal the gems we have before we concern ourselves with making more.”

“I _knew_ it,” Yellow said, her eyes alight. “We’re made to fix things! Did you hear that, Blue?”

Blue had been looking curiously at a flowering tree, but she jumped to attention when Yellow addressed her.

“See?” Yellow said proudly. “She already knows her name.”

Judging by the confused, somewhat frightened look on Blue’s face, Spinel was not so sure.

“What’s up with her, anyway?” Spinel finally asked. “I’ve never even heard of a gem who came out talking gibberish.”

White sighed a little. “Well, by the time you were created, the process was so refined that off-color gems were rare. And this particular defect is even more so. Of those unfortunate gems who emerged with it, Blue is the only one we kept.”

Oh. Yikes. She looked at Yellow, but the other Diamond apparently had not picked up on any of the implications there. “But Blue and Yellow aren’t… off-color, right?”

White laughed. “Oh, Spinel, of course they are. I am the only Diamond without significant impurities.”

“Impurities?” Yellow demanded. “Do I have a defect too? How do I fix it?”

White gave her another one of those indulgent smiles. “Some flaws can’t be fixed, Sunshine. I could suppress them for a while, but we don’t do that anymore either.”

Yellow crossed her arms and huffed again. “You just said that healing is our job!”

“Yes, but your impurities are not an injury. They’re simply a part of you.” Spinel winced at those words, but White seemed to think they were reassuring. She went on, “Let’s keep trying. Yellow, if you sit here at this desk, does anything come to you?”

Yellow still seemed upset, but she obeyed. “No,” she grumbled.

White directed her to try opening the drawers, handling the various tools, touching the screen. All that produced was the rather shocking realization that Yellow could not read.

Well, it was shocking to Spinel, at least.

“Remember that we invented most of the world around you,” White explained. “Blue developed the writing system.”

Blue herself had settled down beside one of the larger trees. Her eyes followed the flow of the water to and from its planter: the irrigation plan, designed by Yellow with input from a couple of fellow gardeners. At the desk, White was going on about all the things Yellow had created and tended to, while Yellow herself complained that she remembered none of it; Blue simply contemplated the trees, silent. Even now, she seemed so lost.

How would it feel, Spinel wondered, to come into existence like that? How long had it been before Blue could communicate with another gem, before a single other being could understand her?

She was starting to get how Blue, at least, could look so different. Spinel probably would have lost form several times, just from the agony of that kind of loneliness. When she had been left in the garden, it was only her belief that someone might come back for her that had kept her in one piece. When that delusion was shattered, she had thought it would shatter her, too.

But Blue had changed for the better, somehow. Just like all the rest.

“Maybe we've been too focused on who they are now,” Spinel said, almost to herself. “We gotta figure out what made them this way. Like— like a big thing that happened, or something they learned. Something that made them change.”

White was quiet for a moment. “I see,” she said finally. Then she shooed Yellow out of the seat so she could use the communicator. “I did hope we could avoid bothering him, but I suppose it can’t be helped.”

“Him?” Yellow asked impatiently. “Who’s him?”

But Spinel already knew. If anyone could bring them back, it would be their missing fourth Diamond, the savior of gemkind and the beloved family whose empty spot Spinel could never hope to fill. And the only expert she knew in the art of fixing damage from a Rejuvenator.

She wished she could sink into the floor. After everything that had happened, she was still causing trouble for him.

White’s call reached the Crystal Gems’ home and was answered almost immediately by a very annoyed fusion.

“You can’t call Steven to solve all Homeworld’s problems,” she told them flatly.

“We only need his help with one,” White assured her. “Honestly, Garnet, we hardly ask for anything— except to know how he’s doing once in a while!”

“He’s doing fine. And he can’t help you.”

“You can’t possibly know that.”

“You know I can.”

“Hello!” Yellow interrupted. “You’re awfully rude. Do you know us?”

It was hard to see Garnet’s expression behind the visor, but her mouth turned more firmly down at the corners. “I know enough.”

“Yellow, go and wait with Blue.” White’s smile was still polite, but there was a coldness to it. “Now, Garnet, don’t be unreasonable. We only need a small favor. Would Steven really appreciate finding out that you made this decision for him?”

“Don’t _you_ try to lecture me on how Steven would feel.”

“Is something bad gonna happen?” Spinel asked suddenly. She remembered Zircon, who had been so insistent on finding a Diamond. Maybe the explosion of Blue and Yellow losing form had more consequences than they realized. “Garnet, did you see something we oughtta know about?”

Garnet let out what might have been a sigh. It was odd; with the size of the screen on Yellow’s desk, she looked almost as big as one of the Diamonds.

“I see many different paths, and they all lead to Steven coming home upset.” She paused, then removed her visor. Her three eyes glared at each of them in turn. She lingered in particular on Blue, who was not even looking at the screen. “Unfortunately, he will want to help. Be careful with him— all of you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Blue's "language" is shamelessly done via google translate, so if any actual Irish speakers notice a glaring error, feel fee to let me know~


End file.
